St Luke's Wallsend

From HDOMS Newsletter October 1993:

The organ, the oldest in the area, was built by the London firm of JW Walker & Sons in 1855, job no. 545, for St Paul's Anglican Church, West Maitland. The organ was probably transferred to St Mary's Anglican Church, Maitland in 1867 and was purchased by St Luke's from St Mary's in 1881 for £100. It was restored in 1976 by Arthur Jones.

From 1981 OHTA Conference booklet:

This is one of the earliest J.W. Walker organs in Australia, dating from 1855. It is believed to have been built for St Paul's Anglican Church, Maitland [1] and supplied through W.J. Johnson, the Sydney organbuilder. [2] Its date of installation at Wallsend is uncertain, but would possibly have been in the late 1860s when the Maitland church acquired its Willis organ. Restoration work was carried out in 1975 by Arthur Jones. [3]

The specification is:

Manual
Open Diapason
Dulciana
Principal Bass
Principal
Fifteenth
Oboe

Pedal
Bourdon

8
8
4
4
2
8

16

Manual to Pedal coupler
Swell pedal

3 composition pedals

Compass 61/20

Mechanical action throughout [4]

[1] J.W. Walker & Sons Catalogue of organs built n.d.

[2] J.W. Walker Ledger Book AA, p.184

[3] Pers. comm. Kelvin Hastie Jan. 1981

[4] Spec. supplied Peter Jewkes April 1972